Ghana\u2019s Parliament has approved \u00a0GHc826.8 million for the Electoral Commission for the conduct of presidential and parliamentary elections next year.<\/p>\n
The Commission had budgeted over 1.1 billion cedis for the polls, with the expectation that some GHc100 million would be used for other administrative expenses.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”PVYwhImKU5xGzhH9ai7L30LWJqUocyRi”]This leaves a funding gap of almost GHC400 million.<\/p>\n
The Commission expended over GHc 200 million on the 2012 election.<\/p>\n
Speaking prior to the approval on the EC\u2019s budget, Minority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu was concerned about the cost of the conduct of election in the country insisting it\u2019s too high.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conduct of elections in Ghana is just too high. The average per capita expenditure on the conduct of elections in Africa is $13, looking at the Ghanaian situation, the last one that we held, it was $18.80. It is anticipated that, for 2016 the figures that they have given us will translates into about $17.69,\u201d the Minority Leader noted.<\/p>\n
But Majority Leader, Alban Bagbin disagreed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0According to him the EC\u2018s demands are justified to ensure that there are credible elections in 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Electoral Commission has learnt a lot of lessons from the 2012 election and in fact [they are] experimenting [with] some of the things that they want to implement in the 2016 election like having two verification equipment at each polling station so that in case there is a fault with one, the other one is applied.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alban Bagbin said a lot of work is being done by the Electoral Commission in order to further improve on the quality of polls in the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026definitely the quality of election in Ghana is among the highest in Africa and I think that members have contributed to that. But as we all always state the key word is vigilance.\u201d<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonoline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n